Stories at the Coffee Table

A couple of years ago, Caferati ran an online short-story competition, the winning entries to which would go into a book. I sent in an entry, it didn't make the first cut or was on standby, and I forgot all about it. Over a year ago, I received an email from the editors at Caferati asking if the story was still available. Since it was merely loitering in my inbox, I said, yes sir, with three bags full.

The line went silent till about 12 months later when we found that despite all the pitfalls of getting a book out on their own, Caferati was finally going ahead with the publishing. Which they did. It's called Stories at the Coffee Table and has a very elegant design to it. It was launched in Jaipur at the lit-fest there and in Mumbai at the Kala Ghoda Arts Festival a month ago (which, BTW, in further evidence of my ever-increasing senility, I contrived to miss by mistaking a Thursday for a Friday). I didn't want to blog about it until I got a copy in hand, which I did yesterday.

The book is priced at a modest Rs. 200/- (the publishers will use it to recover their costs - the authors don't get anything :-)) and is currently available only by direct request (see here). Apparently, authors can obtain a discount, so if you are sufficiently moved by this venture and have the stomach for writings of an eclectic kind :-), then let me know.

The list of authors can be seen here. Incidentally, there are lots of people there sharing similarities with me - software kiddos, fellow quizzers, people from PSPL and IIT Bombay, and lots of names from Pune. I haven't read any of the other stories yet though.

Many thanks to the perseverence of Peter Griffin, Manisha Lakhe, and Annie Zaidi at Caferati, and for making the opportunity available. Thanks also to Sudarshan who, IIRC, told me about the contest.

And if you're keen to know, my entry straddles cricket, mathematics and Japanese politics (whoa!). Now, I don't think it's the best thing I've ever written (that 'honour' (dubious) probably would be something like this story), and I haven't even written all that much in life, for there to be a scale of any kind. What's more: I just have lost the capacity to subjectively or objectively assess the entry. I'd like to hear fresh opinions of any kind about the story, if you have them for me. I won't be hurt :-). We all have to start somewhere. If you like what I write, a few efforts on this blog (that have been labeled) are available here.

Update: The publishers now have a feedback page up here. To specifically comment about my entry, click here.